Propeller for aircraft



March 10, 1931. KAISER 1,795,863

PRQPELLER FOR AIRCRAFT Fiiea Nov. 23, 1929 5 Sheets-Sheet 3 Patented Mar. 1'0, 1931 7 UNITED STATES PATENT KOFFICEUT LAWRENCE KAISER, or innwauxnn, wrsconsnr, Assmnonior 01mm om;

- c. rrrnn, or MILWAUKEE, wrsconsm PROPELLER ron nncm'r Application filed November 28, 1929. Serial No.

This invention relates to improvements in propellers for aircraft.

One of the objects of my invention is the provision of an improved propellerfor use on various types of aircraft, whereinthe blades of the propeller can be quickly and easily adjusted for varying the force exerted by the propeller and thusincreasing or decreasing the pitchof the. propeller with-respect to its longitudinal axis.

Another object of the invention is the pro vision of .a propeller construction for aircraft wherein the blades of the propeller are mountedfor rotation in the .hub of the propeller and-manually operated means is provided for'independently rotating the blades and retaining said blades in various adjusted positions. a

A further object of the invention is'the provision of a propeller of the above type wherein the construction and mounting of the :hub.;and',th e blades is so arranged that the parts can be quickly and readily assembled portion of the angular flange '13 surrounds the outer end of the sleeve 5 as illustrated removed therefrom and any of the parts can be quickly and easily replaced when necessary.

With the above and other objectsin view,

-' the invention consists in the. novel features of construction, the combination and arrangement of partshereinafter more fully set forth,

' pointedout' in the claims and shown in the accompanying drawings wherein z.

c g v Figure- 1 isa sectional view 'on the line 1- 1'of.,Fi re4; V Figure is a sectional view on the line 2-2 of Figure'5;

ofFi: e1.

' of Figure'l; and,

Figure?) is'a detail section onthe'line- 3- 3 of Figure 1';

I Figure 4 is asectional view on theline 4-4 ofFigurel; 'Z

Figure' 5 is a detail sectiononthe line 5-5 of 1; a

V Figure 6 is a sectional viewlon'the line 6'6 F gure'7 is a sectional Re erringmore particularly ings, lQindicates a portion of the-motor which has? projecting therefro n the drive shaft-'2.

-13'and abuts the shoulder 12 so as to This drive shaft, as. indicated, tapers outwardly and is provided with a longitudinal key 3 and screw threaded at its outer end, as shown at 4. Arranged over the shaft 2 is a sleeve 5, provided intermediate its ends with an annular rib 6 and at its outer end it is this shoulder 10 is a flange'll which is adapted to engage over the inner face of the flange 6, as shown in Figure 1. The outer wall of the housing 9 is also provided with a centrall disposed opening and formed with a shoul-' d er 12 and an angular'flange 13. The outer when the casing 9 is mounted upon the housin ln order to retain the casing 9 in position upon the sleeve 5, a sleevel is fitted into the counter bore 7 and engages an annular shoulder formed-on the retaining member 15. This retaining member 15 is provided with an annular threaded portion,threaded interiorly and exteriorly with the threads on the interior thereof adapted to engage the' screw threaded portion 4 on the shaft 2, while the threads on the exterior thereof engage The sleeve 14 is provided with an annular -flan e 16, the outer edge of which rests upon the threaded bore 8 of the sleeve 5, thus retaining the sleeve 5 upon the'shaft2.

the orizontal portion of the angular flange I p properly maintain the casing-9 in its respective position relative to the sleeve 5.- Vienna the line 7:7

to the draw-Q;

I The retainingmember 15 is provided with a reduced outwardly projecting threaded portion 17 which. extends into the sleeve 14 and threaded onto this member-15 is a lockingnut 18. The inner end of the sleeve 14 is provided with an inwardly extending annular flange 19 and between this flange and the nut 18, a yieldable gasket is provided, as shown at Figure 1.

The above construction securely attaches the sleeve 5 to the shaft 2 and also retains the casing 9 in position upon the sleeve 5.

The outer ends of the casing 9 are exterior ly threaded, as shown at 20, and mounted thereon is an angular ring 21 retained in osition by means of a locking nut 22. The b ades 23 of the propeller are mounted in each end of the casing 9 and these blades are preferably secured to a head 24 with the'inner end of each blade extending into the head, as shown at the right in Figure 1. Each pro eller carries upon opposite sides thereof a evel face cam 25 and removably mounted upon the outer threaded end 26 of each head 24 is a retaining ring 27 having a bevel surface adapted to cooperate with the bevel cams 25. These rings 27 are securely locked in position by means of the lock nuts 28.

The heads 24 are provided at their inner ends with enlarged annular members 29 which fit snugly'within the ends of the easing 9, as shown in Figure 1, and I rovide the heads with annular bearing sur aces 30 which are disposed within the casing 9 at the outer ends thereof. v Between the bearing surfaces 30 and the casing 9, ball bearings 31 f .are retained. These ball bearings-31am retained within the casing by means of the inwardly projecting flange part of the retaining ring 21. Attached to the inner end of each of the head members 24 is a housing 32 which extends inwardly to. the shaft sleeve 5 and is provided with an annular bearing surface 33, upon which is mounted a bearing ring 34. Arranged adjacent the annular offsetpart 35 on the casing 9 is a bearing ring 36, and arranged in opposed relation with the bearing ring 34 and positioned between these two bearin rings are the roller bearings 37. From this, itwill be apparent that the propeller blades and their mountings are sup ported within the casing ings 31 and the roller bearings37.

Adjacent the annular bearing surfaces. 33

is'a brake drum 38, and adjacent the brake drum is a gear segment 39 adapted to mesh with a longitudinal movable rack 40, slidably mountedin an offset portion 41 of the casing 9. At this time, it 'might be well to call attention to the fact that the casing 9 is formed of two separable parts and is fitted over the shaft sleeve 5, but the clamping rings 21 are set in position uponthe ends of the casing for retaining the heads 24 inplace, although the openings in the opposed side walls'of the casing 9 will permit the. casing to be fitted over the end of the shaft sleeve 5 after the propeller'blades have been fitted in the ends of the casing.

9 by the ball bear Each housing 32 is provided at its interportion-42 has a cup-shaped bearing surface 43 to receive the bearin member 44. The housings 32 are connecte to the shaft 2 for rotation therewith by extendin 45 transversely through the outer em? shaft 2, through the member 15 and through the shaft sleeve-5, as shown in Figure 1, with the ends of this rod projecting into the housings 32. to a point adjacent the outer ends thereof. Mounted upon the ends of the rods 45 are the spiders 46 which carry roller bearings 47 adapted to ride upon the bearing member 44. A retaining nut 48 is mounted upon the ends of rod 45 and retains the roller bearings 47 in position. The nuts 48 are retained in position by means of the lock nuts,

.2 for rotation therewith, but move independ' ently thereof. In other words, the propeller blades 23 are mounted for rotative movement at right angles to the axis of shaft 2 so that the angular pitch of the propeller blades may be varied at the will of the operator.

Surrounding the shaft sleeve 5'is an annular housing 50 and slidably mounted upon this housing 50 is a ring 51 provided with 53 is movable.

' The outer wall of the raceway is provided with a restricted annular slot 54 inwhich the rods 55 are movable. extended outwardly to the casing 9 and are connected to the rack bars 40 which cooperate with the rack segments 39 on housings 32. From this, it will be apparent that as the cas1ng'9 rotates with the shaft 2, the

blocks 53 will ride around in the race-way the ring. Thls yoke 56 has its intermediate portion attached to a rotatable stub shaft by the main'portion fof the motor 1. The

of the The rods 55 are a rod an annular raceway 52 in-Whichthe block outer end of shaft 60 has attached thereto a link 62 which in turn pivotally connected to a control lever 63, whereby .the reciprocation of the control lever 63 will rotate shaft 60 and impart a, rocking movement to yoke '56 and slide the ring 51 upon the housing 50. This movement will reciprocate the racks 40 and.impart' a rotative movement to housings 32. V

Arranged upon opposite sides of the brake housing 38 with each housing 32 are the brake members 64 and.65, each of said brake members carrying a lining portion 66 which iao ends slotted to engage; the pins 58 carried by ineaeee is adapted to engage the exterior face of the brake drums 38.

Each brake member 64 and 65 is provided with a bearing part 67 which is rockably mounted upon a support 68. The opposed end of bearing member 64 is provided with an angular seat v69, while the other bearing member has pivoted to its substantially free end an arm 70 which has an offset portion 71 provided with an interiorly threaded aperture. Positioned within the aperture in the offset 71 is a bearing hall 72 retained in position by means of the threaded stop member 73. This bearing ball .72 is disposed opposite one side wall of the angular seat 69 and movable between one side wall of the seat 69 and of ball 72.is a tapered wedge member 74, slidably mounted within a hearing part 75 and provided in its upper face with an arcuate seat 76 in which is seated the rounded end 77 of an arm 78 mounted on shaft 79. This shaft 79 is supported by the casing 9, as shown in Figure 2. and carries a second arm 80 havinga rounded end 81 adapted to fit within an arcuate recess 82 in rod 83. It will be apparent from the foregoing that upon sliding movement of the rod 83, the wedge member 74 will be forced between the bearing ball 72 and one wall of the angular seat 69, moving arm 70 to the right, as shown in Figure 5, clamping the brake member 64 as well as the brake member 65 tightly against the drum 38,

- This braking mechanism is preferably used I for securely maintaining the propeller blades in their adjusted positions and also has a tendency to drag upon the housings 32, while the propeller blades are being adjusted, so that an accurate adjustment of these blades can be effected.

The rods 83 extend outwardly through the inner wall of the casing 9 and are provided with shoes or blocks 84 which ride within an annular raceway 85 in ring 86. This ring 86 is supported by means of arms 87, the outer ends of which are provided with guide ways 88 in which are slidably mounted the lateral projecting lugs 89 on ring 86.

Extending outwardly from the ring 86 and removably attached to the lugs 89 are the pins '90 which are provided at their outer ends with cross portions 91 which project into a restricted slot 92 in each of the arms 87 for guiding themovement of pin and also limiting the movement of ring 86. The cross portions 91 also extend .into the slotted ends 93 of the yoke 94 which is attached to a shaft 95 carried by-arm96. The shaft 95 has attached to its outerend a link 97 connected to a control lever 98. From this, it will be apparent that upon reciprocation of the control lever 98, 'rotative movement is imparted to shaft 95 which will rock the yoke 94 1nd impart movement to the pins 90 and impart a lateral movement to ring 86 for actuating rods 83 and wedge members 74. l

From the foregoing description taken in connection with the accompanying drawings,

it will be apparent that in improved brake adjusting mechanism wil "be operated as follows:

lVhen it is desired'to adjust the pitch of the angle of the blades 23, the lever 98 is actuated for releasing the brake members 64 and However, the movement of the brake member 64 will be slow so as to leave this member drag on the brake drum. After the brake members have been released,;the

lever 63 is then actuated to move ring 51 outwardly on the housing 50. This movement reciprocates the rack bars 40, rotating housings 32 which in turn will impart a similar movement to the blades 23. v After the adjustment of the blades had taken place,'the ring 86 is again adjusted through the move ment of operating lever 98, and the clutch members 64 and 65 tightly engage with the drum 38 sothat this action of the clutch members, together with thestationary posi tion of the racks 40 will securely hold the blades 23 in their adjusted position.

Attention is also directed to the fact that by providing the thrust bearing on rod 45 at each endthereof, it will assist in maintaining the housings 32 in their proper position within the casing 9, so that the blades 23will also be maintained in their restricted posi- 7 tion relative to the shaft 2.

I claim:

1. In a propeller mounting, the combination with a' driving shaft, a casing removably mounted thereon and connected thereto, propeller blades mounted in the casing for rotative movement independent of the movement of the driving shaft, housings within said casingoperatively connected with the propeller blades, gear segments carried by said housings, rack bars operatively connected with the gear segments, a stationary sleeve surrounding the driving shaft, a ring slidably mounted upon said stationary sleeve and having a raceway, blocks slidably mounted in said raceway, rods connecting the rack bars and blocks, manually controlled means connected to the ring for adjusting thefsame on the stationary sleeve for imparting movement to said blades, andmanuallycontrolled braking means for vretaining said blades against rotative movement and impeding their movement during adjustment.

2. In a propeller mounting, the combination of a driving shaft, a casing removably mounted'upon said shaft and operatively manually controlled braking mechanism for retarding the movement of said blades.

3. In a propeller mounting, the combination with a driving shaft, a casing removably mounted on the shaft and operative- '1y connected thereto, head blocks rotatably mounted in the casing, propeller blades having their inner ends mounted in said head blocks, means for removably securing the propeller blades in the head blocks and manually with the head blocks for rotatably adjusting the blades independent of the movement of the shaft, and manually controlled braking mechanism for retarding the movement of,

said head blocks.-

' 4. In a propeller mounting, the combination of a driving shaft, blade members disposed at right angles to the shaft and operatively connected thereto, means for adjusting the pitch of the blades independent of the movement means for retarding the movement of said blades and retaining them in an adjusted po-' sition.

p In testimony that I claim the foregoing I have hereunto set my hand at Milwaukee 1n the county of Milwaukee and State of Wisconsin.

LAWRENCE KAISER.

controlled means operatively connected of theshaft, and braking 

